


Parting Gift

by asherkoyal



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Angst, Avengers: Endgame (AU), Father-Son Relationship, Love, Marvel Alternative Universe - Freeform, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:28:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21629143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asherkoyal/pseuds/asherkoyal
Summary: "The important thing is this: to be ready at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you could become." - Charles Dickens
Relationships: Nebula & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Kudos: 24





	1. Save Him

“Something’s happening.”

…

“Quill?”

…

Steady, Quill.”

“Oh man.”

…

“Tony. There was no other way”

...

Tony watched as the man in front of him slowly disintegrated into dust, following the three people before him. Tony didn’t know much about the mystical doctor, but it still saddened him to see an innocent man fade into nothing.

“Mr. Stark?” A soft voice cut into the eerie silence that had surrounded the foreign planet.

The older man widened his eyes. Turning his head to the source of the little voice. Fear had consumed Tony’s body as he took in the small boy’s frame. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, the spider-boy looked normal, for someone who had just fought a titan. But Tony could not escape the unsettling feeling in his stomach as he watched Peter stagger to where he stood.

“Kid? Kid! Are you okay?” Tony says, stepping forward to meet Peter just as the young boy falls to his knees, Tony following him to the ground.

“I am...I’m okay. Just kind of tired.” Peter voices, struggling to keep his eyes open. His hands grasping Tony’s arms for support.

“Hey! Come on, Kid. Don’t close your eyes,” Tony’s concern ever so evident in his voice, “You gotta go home, back to your school trip. Back to May.” Desperation seeping into his words.

Peter’s body started to fall forward, his grasp on Tony falling away as he no longer had the strength. Tony was quick to catch the small frame and maneuver them both so that the young boy’s head laid in his lap. Tony couldn’t help but sweep Peter’s curls out of his muddy and bloody face, continuing to stroke his curls as if to soothe himself as well as the boy in his lap.

“Tired...need sleep…” Peter’s voice barely a whisper, as he slips into unconsciousness, body going limp.

“Kid? Kid! Come on, kid,” Tony beams, shaking the poor teen, “Peter?” The name comes out as a choking sound.

Tears threatening to spill from Tony’s eyes as he holds Peter closer than he ever has before. Tony doesn’t let go of the youngling, grasping him with all of his life force, willing him to stay. The billionaire doesn’t take his eyes off of the boy from Queen’s, too scared to look away only to find that Peter too had disappeared into ash.

“He did it.” Another voice announces. Tony hadn’t known who had turned to ash and who hadn’t, so the voice came as a surprise. 

Tony raises his head, still not taking his eyes off of the small spider. They had lost, but all that Tony could think of was whether or not his protege was going to live. This thought, of Peter dying, was the final trigger to Tony’s fears. The tears that had threatened to escape a few moments before, were now rolling down Tony’s cheeks, softly landing on Peter’s hair.

At least 30 minutes had passed, not that Tony was aware. To him, mere seconds felt like hours. Still holding the small frame in his arms, he had at least accepted that the kid would not be turning to dust any time soon. The relief that flooded Tony was a feeling that he knew could never be repeated, as he felt Peter’s pulse slowly steady itself.

“Stark.” The same voice from before echoed. Tony didn’t respond.

“Stark.” The voice now more stern in its tone.

Finally, Tony lifted his head. Reluctantly tearing his eyes away from the fragile teenager in his grasp. He found that the blue lady had survived whatever Thanos had done. With his tear streaked face now turned fully towards her, he had seen the intriguing women’s own despair, realising that she had lost as well.

“There is a ship in the distance. If I can repair it, we will be able to get off of this planet.” She said with utmost precision and formality. Tony looked back down at Peter, still with his head in his lap, and stroked his hand once more through the boy’s curls.

“I can help,” Tony said, his voice scarce. The woman stared at him, “It’ll be faster. The faster we get the ship repaired, the faster we get back to Earth.” The blue lady still stared at him.

“Listen Smurfette…” Tony started.

“Nebula.” She cut in.

“What?”

“My name is Nebula.” No laughter coming from her.

“Well, nice to make your acquaintance. I’m Tony, but I assume you know who I am as you know my last name and all,” Tony says, trying to find some normalcy, “This is Peter.” He gestures to Peter.

Nebula glances towards Peter, and Tony is sure he sees a glimpse of fondness in her eyes. She quickly tore her eyes away from the boy and reaches for a gadget that is secreted into her utility belt. Nebula slowly makes her way towards the two humans, making sure not to stumble over the rubble and debris.

“What are you doing?” Tony exclaims as he watches Nebula crouch beside the both of them. Nebula makes a ‘shh’ gesture as she points the gadget towards Peter, a blue light emanating from the tip.

“He is young.” Nebula states, moving the gadget from his head to his stomach.

“Too young,” Tony replies, “He shouldn’t have been here. He’s too much like me, stubborn and doesn’t listen to instruction.” Tony rants, not particularly caring if Nebula was listening, and watches as the blue light travels from Peter’s stomach to his feet, make a low beeping sound, and switching off.

“Your son will be fine. He should wake up in a couple of hours.” Nebula says, standing back up straight and returning her gadget to her utility belt.

“He’s not my son,” Tony says, “Just a kid who wanted to save the world.” Nebula nodded, not sure if she fully understood the unique relationship Tony Stark had with the boy in red.

“We should make our way to the ship. I can lift the boy.” Nebula spoke.

“No,” Tony exclaimed, adjusting his body underneath Peter, “I got him.”

With this, Tony lifted Peter into his arms and slowly stood, blood rushing through his legs. Adjusting the young teenager to reach peak comfortability with one arm under his knees and the other supporting Peter’s back, Tony was careful not to jostle Peter too much, too afraid of dropping him. Nebula watched with curiosity as she saw Tony modify his grasp on Peter, and the kid subconsciously sinking even deeper into the older man’s embrace.

“Lead the way, Smurfette.” Tony nodded to her, attentive to not wake the boy just yet.

Nebula narrowed her eyes at the man, turned her back and started her trek towards the ship that would hopefully take her away from the planet they currently inhibited.

Tony glanced once again at the body in his arms, silently prayed that he would be okay, and followed Nebula towards their hopeful and potential ticket out of such a dreadful place.


	2. Depart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mostly Nebula and Tony

Tony, Nebula, and a sleeping Peter approached the ship that was hopefully their way off of the death stricken planet. From afar, the spaceship wasn’t in the best condition, there was a lot of work to be done. The exterior had melted away, as well as the walls of the ship having a couple of holes in them.

Tony followed Nebula into the entrance of the ship and peered around the interior, noticing the small rest place where he could put Peter. Softly and almost smoothly, Tony approached the makeshift bed and slowly lowered the teenage boy down so that he was now resting on his back.

“You care deeply for the boy.” Nebula says standing a few feet away, her phrasing more like a statement than a question.

Tony looks down at the sleeping Peter and glances over the boy’s facial features, taking note of each feature. Carefully reaching down, Tony sweeps Peter’s hair out of his face once again, smiling softly at the long locks on the teenager’s head. Tony sighs deeply.

“He’s my responsibility,” Tony whispers, “I once told him that if he dies, that it’s on me and I didn’t need that on my conscience.” Tony says while still looking down at Peter.

“Truth is,” He continues, “If he died, I believe a little part of me would die with him.” Choking on the words as they come out.

”He really does remind me of me when I was his age. Willing to do anything to impress my father. Eager to please everyone. I just want him to be 100 percent himself, ya know? Someone better than me.” Tony says, gathering himself.

Nebula nodded in understanding. Even though emotions such as love, fondness, and caring were very scarce in her experience, Nebula understood how two people can have such a strong connection. Without uttering another word, Nebula retreats back to where repairs are needed and starts her tinkering with the minimal tools that are aboard the ship. Tony hears the start up of what sounds like a blowtorch and realises that his odd compatriot has started on the reparations of the ship. With one last glance at Peter, Tony goes to join the blue woman to see if they can get this ship off the ground.

——

A whole 2 hours later, the ship had been worked on all that it could, Tony and Nebula couldn’t do any more to it. They both had worked non-stop, Tony’s hands now covered in little cuts, rust and oil from the different reparations that needed to be made. The holes were covered, the engine lines were fixed, now all they had to do was attempt to turn the ship on and hope for the best.

With Nebula at the helm, Tony took a seat and pressed a few buttons, only to be stopped by Nebula with her hand on top of his.

“Do not touch that.” She says, with a very scary stare. Tony puts his hands up in surrender and sits semi-patiently for her to continue.

With a flick of a few switches and the pressing of multiple buttons, Nebula takes one of her hands and hovers over one last switch. Tony looks up at the woman and nods his head in approval, and Nebula sullenly nods back. Hesitating a second more, Nebula closes her eyes and flicks the switch.

A few whirring noises are heard from the engine and a couple of cracks as well, all of a sudden a bunch of lights illuminate and the ship gives the notion that it is up and running. 

With another glance at all the logistics that had been displayed on the screen, Nebula pushed another few buttons and with a rumble and vibration of the ship, the repaired piece of metal that was their spaceship had lifted off of the ground, and was now making it’s way out of the planets atmosphere.

Tony smiles widely and punches the air in victory. Nebula continues pushing a bunch of buttons, stabling the ship and making sure that everything is in place before she puts the ship on autopilot. Tony lifts his open hand and turns towards Nebula, who pauses her button-pushing and blankly stares at Tony’s hand.

“It’s a high-five.Do you not know…?” Tony trails off, lowering his hand slightly.

“We do not have these things where I am from.” Nebula states.

“Well all it is, is just a slap. But on another persons hand. Like this.” Tony lifts his right hand, and gently reaches over to Nebula’s hand and grasps onto her wrist. Tony slowly brings the two hands together in a very awkward high-five.

“See, not too hard. We humans do it in a congratulatory gesture.” He did it again.

“High…five.” Nebula says, as Tony releases his grip on her wrist, Nebula brings her own hand to Tony’s in a high-five.

“That’s it! There you go! You’re already part human.” Tony jokes.

Nebula turns her lips up slightly in a small smirk at Tony’s remark, and flicks a couple of switches and puts the aircraft on autopilot as they make their way into space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Literally desperate to find inspiration 😭


	3. Nothingness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's up!?

Tony and Nebula were much too involved in their paper football game to realise that the teenage boy who had fallen unconscious over 48 hours ago had finally woken up. Peter’s head was a pounding mess and his chest felt as if there were a tonne of rocks on top of it.

As Peter’s eyes were adjusting, he realised that he had been laid to sleep on a very uncomfortable slab of metal that was supposed to pass as a resting place. Under his head, he felt something fabric but not a pillow. Pulling it from under his head, he realised the fabric was a medium sized mens jacket.

“What the…?” Peter tried to say, but his voice was awfully coarse from the sand on the alien planet, as well as not being conscious for a long time.

Slowly moving into a sitting up position, legs hanging over the edge of the metal slab, he glances around the empty metal interior and finds that he is aboard a ship. Similar to the one he had hitched a ride on to the alien planet. Peter rubbed the sleep and sand out from his eyes, and stretched his long arms over his head. A sudden chill goes through his body and Peter shivers slightly, realising he is no longer wearing his new nanotech suit and back in his regular suit.

He reaches behind him to grab the makeshift pillow his head was on just a few moments ago and slips into it, noting the sleeves went past his hands and the bottom of the jacket stopped at the top of his thigh. Sighing a little, Peter wraps the jacket more securely around himself and goes off searching for anything familiar.

It didn’t take Peter long to discover distant voices, as the ship wasn’t too large to search. The teen spider could distinguish only 2 voices, a deeper toned voice and one that was a little bit more monotone. Peter followed the sound of the voices, with his oversized jacket and caution written on his face.

“And you’ve won. Congratulations, fair game. Good sport.” Peter heard the deeper voice convey. Now 70% certain, and desperately hopeful, that the male voice belonged to Tony.

As Peter rounded a small corner, he was greeted with two people sitting at a table shaking hands. The teenager identified Tony immediately and a huge feeling of relief swam throughout his body. Though he was extremely unsure about the second figure sat across from Tony

“Ya have fun?” Tony says to Nebula, not seeing Peter.

“It was fun.” Nebula replied, in her ever so monotone voice.

Nebula nodded her head in acknowledgement to Tony, stood up from the table and went towards the front of the ship to tinker with some small parts.

“Mr Stark?” Peter announces his presence.

Tony is visibly shocked to hear Peter’s voice, especially in such a weak and tired way. Tony whips his head towards the source, and finds Peter standing just a bit away from the table he was sitting at. Looking fairly fragile and small, being swallowed from Tony’s jacket.

“Kid! How are you feeling?” Tony exclaimed, shooting up from his sitting position at the table and making his way over to Peter.

“I’m okay,” Peter says as Tony places both hands on the smaller boys shoulders, “My head definitely hurts though.”

Peter could see the worry etched into Tony’s eyes and a sudden feeling of guilt washed over him, remembering that he was too stubborn to go home like Tony had wanted. Tony’s hands moved from the boy’s shoulders to frame his face, taking a deep breath in, he starts to tell Peter what he’s missed from the past few hours.

“Kid. We...uh...we are in...space.” Tony says with an almost unsettling tone. Peter looks confused.

“Huh? What do you mean we’re in space? We were just on that desert planet, right? Mr Stark, I don’t understand what’s going on.” Peter starts to ramble and work himself up.

“Woah woah woah, Kid. Calm down,” Tony says, motioning Peter towards the vacant table chair to sit down, “We were on that planet, yes. But when people started to...disappear...you passed out.” Tony explained.

“You passed out and Nebula over there,” Tony pointed to where Nebula stood, she gave a small nod to Peter and carried on with her tinkering, “took us to a ship. This ship we are on now. I carried you, unconscious and all, to the ship and Nebula and I worked on the ship to get it up and running.”

Peter stared blankly at Tony trying to absorb everything his mentor was trying to say.

“We got the ship working and set off towards Earth. We flew for a few hours, but maybe 30 minutes ago we ran out of fuel.” Tony sadly relayed.

“Okay...okay. Um...right...okay.” Peter mumbles finally understanding that they aren’t on the planet anymore.

“I know you’ve said ‘okay’ like a bunch but...how are you coping?” Tony asks.

“I mean I’m slightly scared, but we’re going back to Earth right? We’re going home.” Peter says, all too innocently. Tony stills for a moment, knowing now that Peter has not comprehended the issue at hand.

“Peter. We were only in flight for about 48 hours. We aren’t anywhere near Earth.” Tony sighed.

Tony watched the small boy realise the urgency of the situation, as well as realise he had been unconscious for just over 2 days. Tony could see the cogs turning in Peter’s head and decided now would be a good time to voice what had happened in those 48 hours.

“Pete, when you fell unconscious...me and smurfette thought you’d wake up in at least 4 hours. But 4 became 5, and then 5 became 10. I was worried sick. Scared me half to death.”

Peter was shocked to hear how Tony had felt during his unconscious hours. Merely believing that Tony only ever saw Peter as the little kid from Queens that had become an imposition on this highly important and crucial mission. Tony continued.

“On hour 18, I had smurfette...sorry, Nebula, scan you to see your vitals and everything was perfect. I had no clue what to do. Your healing factor is completely out of my jurisdiction. But I was beginning to think you weren’t ever going to wake up.” Tony paused. Letting Peter absorb this new information.

“What happened to the new suit? The one you saved me with?” Peter voiced.

“On hour 30, I decided to take off the Nano suit. Didn’t look overly comfortable to sleep in. But then I worried whether or not you’d get cold, so I gave you my jacket. Gotta say kid, it suits you.” Tony said, laughing at the length of the sleeves.

Peter smiled, now knowing where the mysterious jacket had come from. Peter nodded his head in thanks and stood up from his sitting position. Tony watched the smaller human being make his way over to the front of the spaceship, towards the large front windows. Peter sat down on a step and looked out into the empty space ahead. Nothing to the left. Nothing to the right. Nothing in front. Just a whole bunch of...nothing.

Peter sighed, dropped his head down so that his chin met his chest.

“Now what?” He whispered, knowing that Tony was behind him.

“I don’t know, kid. I guess we wait and hope for a miracle.” Tony said, leaning against the frame to the entrance where Peter sat.

“Yeah. A miracle would work.” Peter glanced over his shoulder to Tony, a weary look on his face.

Tony gives a sympathetic smile and pushes off the frame he was leaning on, motioning for Peter to move over and make space on the step. As Tony sat down beside the teenage boy, they both looked out at the nothingness. Tony places one hand on Peter’s shoulder and gives it a small squeeze.

“We’ll make it, kid. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long haha. i had so many other ideas brewing that i just had to get those out before coming back to this.


	4. Miracle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miracles are not what they used to be.

‘We’ll make it’ indeed.

Tony was right, they did make it. But only after a couple of scares had occurred. About 3 hours had gone past, and the air on the ship was feeling fairly thin. Nebula had pointed out that they were running low on oxygen, and by the looks of things, only had approximately 2 hours left of breathing time.

And that was only scare number one. Scare number two had occurred an hour after the initial oxygen warning. Tony was, yet again, recording another message for Pepper. Hoping she would see the messages that he was recording on his helmet. Peter was in the back of the ship, staring back out into the void of nothingness when he heard a clang.

The sound jolted through Peter’s body, causing him to jump to his feet and race to the source of the clanging metal. On arrival, Peter saw that Tony had fallen unconscious while recording what would have been his last message to Pepper. Peter’s heart raced a thousand miles per hour as he lunged towards his mentor, rapidly and worryingly checking Tony’s vitals. His heartbeat was faint, and his breathing was light.

Peter was feeling incredibly faint as well, but tried to push his way past the dizziness. Peter glanced over to where Nebula had been sitting and noticed her lying against the ship’s walls, visibly exhausted. Gazing back down to Tony, Peter carefully lifted the older man’s head and shimmied himself so that his lap was situated underneath Tony’s head. Tenderly, Peter also shrugged off the jacket that he had been wearing and placed it over Tony’s upper body as a blanket.

Peter sat like this for what felt like hours upon hours, but in reality could have only been about 20 minutes. His vision was slowly blurring, and his breathing was getting shorter and shorter. Peter could still feel the intermittent rise and fall of Tony’s chest, just barely holding on. Peter’s head started to droop further, he could slowly feel the last of his energy seeping out of himself, unable to stay awake. Eyes closing, darkness consuming him.

Suddenly, there is no more darkness. A light creeps over Peter’s face, and ultimately the entire room. Illuminating every nook and cranny of the ship. It takes everything inside of Peter to reopen his eyes. Squinting just enough to see through the cracks, he is met with a glowing woman in front of the large ship window.

“Am...am I dead?” Peter croaks.

“No. I’m taking you home. All of you.” The woman echoes.

Not believing that he is not dead, Peter closes his eyes again and drifts off. Craving slumber.

\--------------------------------

A large crash and jolt in the ship awakens Peter. He jumps so much, Tony’s head almost falls off of his lap and hits the cold metal ground of the ship. Calming down just a little, Peter eases Tony’s head off of his lap and gently places him on the ground. Tuning into his spidey-senses, he could hear the faint beating of Tony’s heart and the slow inhale and exhale through the older man’s nose.

Giving everything he’s got, Peter achingly rises to his feet awfully slow and in an obscene amount of pain from being in one position for a long time. He delicately makes his way to the back of the ship, grabbing on everything and anything he can to keep upright.

As he reaches the end of the ship, Peter sees that a ramp has been disengaged and he’s finally able to take a deep breath. Inhaling, he finally starts to believe that perhaps he wasn’t dead after all. He makes his way towards the ramp that descends down to what looks like a large patch of grass, but still unsure as his vision was still slightly blurry.

Walking his way down the ramp, he can hear distant footsteps. Peter distinguished that there were at least 5 pairs of feet getting closer. Still exhausted, Peter grabs onto a nearby pole to stabilize himself, taking another few steps forward. His legs finally give out and he falls onto the soft ground.

“Hey, Queens!” Peter could hear a deep voice approaching.

He lifts his head ever so slightly and sees 5 people running towards him. Head falling back down, he feels one of the people join him on the ground and flip him over so that he was laying on his back, his head being supported by a large hand on the back of his neck.

“Kid, are you okay? Is anyone else with you?” Captain America. Mr Steve ‘star spangled’ Rogers. Peter could finally point out that voice.

“Peter!” A womanly voice now graces his hearing, “Peter, it’s Pepper. Are you okay?”

Peter nods. Pepper dropped to her knees where the teenager laid, eyes worryingly roaming over Peter looking for any indication of hurt. Her expression suddenly changed into one of despair before asking Peter an all important question in something just above a whisper.

“Where….where is he?” Pepper squeaked. 

Peter weakly lifted his arm and pointed towards the ship for a few seconds before letting it fall back beside him. He heard someone getting to their feet again and running up the ramp, two more pairs of feet following behind.

“So...tired...sleep.” Peter barely gets out.

“You did good, kid. You’re home. You can rest now, Queens.” Steve says, picking up the small framed boy, carrying him back into the base.

“Tony...Nebula…” Peter weakly says, head lolling against Steve’s shoulder.

“Rhodey, Natasha and Pepper have them. They’ll be okay.” 

Relaxing in Captain America’s arms, Peter let himself be carried into the large avengers building. Steve navigated through the hallways and large rooms, until he came to a stop and placed Peter down on a bed. A med bay, Peter recognised.

Not too long after Peter had settled on the bed, Rhodey walked in with a frail looking Tony Stark in his arms. Pepper and Natasha following behind them with worried looks etched into both of their faces.

“Alright guys, I know you’re happy to see them but I need space to work.” Dr Bruce Banner announces to everyone else.

“Will they be okay?” Natasha spoke, the other healthy in the room looked towards Banner with the same questions on their faces.

“They will be once I start,” Natasha, Pepper and Steve all hesitate to leave, “Let me work.” Bruce says softly.

With one last glance at the older man and young teen, the three leave the room. Coming face to face with the glowing woman who brought the ship and the blue woman who was aboard said ship.

“Who are you?” Steve says to the glowing woman, who was not glowing at this moment.

“My name is Carol Danvers. I’m an old friend of Nick Fury.” She says, clear and straight to the point.

There was a brief pause between the 5 people, awkwardly standing in a large room.

“Where’s Fury?” Carol asks.

There is another pause, but this time it is more of an uncomfortable and sad pause.

“Fury turned to ash. Along with half of the human population.” Natasha spoke, grief written into every word.

Carol dropped her head in sudden grief, sort of not believing that he could be gone. Disbelief then became a quick acceptance, now knowing why Fury had signalled for her. She lifted her head back up, tears threatening to leave her eyes, when Pepper coughs too loudly for it to be real and suddenly turns her attention to, from her perspective, the strange blue woman from the ship.

“You were on the ship? With Tony and Peter?” Pepper says, matter-of-factly.

Nebula simply nods.

“And you...you helped save them?” Once again, Pepper speaks ever so gently.

Another nod.

“My name is Nebula. I am the daughter of Thanos.” At this all 4 humans look horrified. Looking at the daughter of the mass murderer, responsible for their friend’s deaths. Nebula noticed this but carried on.

“I was with Stark on Titan. I tried to help him and the other’s to take down Thanos. We tried our hardest to retrieve the gauntlet he yielded. It obviously did not go to plan.” Nebula said.

Nebula then went on to explain the events after the “snap”, of how she and Tony fixed a ship and flew off of Titan together with “the boy” unconscious, and the part where they had run out of fuel and their oxygen was running low. Finally, coming to the end where Carol had saved them and brought them to Earth.

Steve, Pepper, Natasha and Rhodey glanced around at each other and seemed to share the same thought all at once. Steve decided to speak on their behalf.

“Thank you, Nebula. Thank you for helping them both.” Steve directed towards Nebula.

“And thank you, Danvers. Thank you for bringing them home.” Rhodey spoke.

There in that room, all the occupants had a brief feeling of hope. Hope that everything will be okay in the end. No matter what it takes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this story is going on longer than i intended and i apologise haha

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by an instagram edit by the amazing @parkvcrs - go and check it out.


End file.
